# Quadrophenia: Possibly the best album ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371 "2015-02-22T23:31:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/1 "2015-02-22T23:31:09Z")
I’ve owned this originally on 8 track, and then on vinyl, but have never bought it on CD or otherwise. My son just burned a copy for me on CD and now I remember why I have loved this album. I like the background story (I’ve seen the movie) and the music is wonderful. Keith Moon is absolutely spectacular on this album. The best drumming on any rock album, ever. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/2 "2015-02-23T00:33:48Z")
I love this album, and kept the vinyl along with the enclosed booklet. Any day I happen to glance at a clock at 5:15, you know what tune pops into my head. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/3 "2015-02-23T02:04:55Z")
I love the album as well although I wouldn’t put it as the best album ever. Who’s Next is a better album and I go back and forth as between Tommy and Quadrophenia as the best of the rock operas. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/4 "2015-02-23T02:30:44Z")
I’m a huge Who fan and this is my favorite of their albums. I was about 17 when it came out and it just spoke to me. I thought Townshend wrote the lyrics for me. It is a very personal album and even at the age of 57, it is my anthem album. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/5 "2015-02-23T02:35:02Z")
**Leaffan** , you are a man who reveals all he digs. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/6 "2015-02-23T02:58:28Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I like the background story (I’ve seen the movie) and the music is wonderful. Keith Moon is absolutely spectacular on this album. The best drumming on any rock album, ever. Truer words were never spoken. I have a friend, a lifelong jazz drummer, who calls Keith Moon a genius, but a lot of rock drummers seem to worship either John Bonham or Neal Peart, or both. I can’t march in that parade. I won’t say it’s the best album ever, but it demolishes what anybody else was doing in '73, thet’s fer dang sure. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/7 "2015-02-23T13:26:13Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > I have a friend, a lifelong jazz drummer, who calls Keith Moon a genius, but a lot of rock drummers seem to worship either John Bonham or Neal Peart, or both. I can’t march in that parade. Moon is mesmerizing to watch. He’s my all-time favorite drummer-performer. I read something interesting awhile back, though… one of the songs on _Who Are You_ required drumming in 4/6 time, and apparently Moon couldn’t drum in 4/6 time. So they hired a studio drummer for the song. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/8 "2015-02-23T13:50:22Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I read something interesting awhile back, though… one of the songs on _Who Are You_ required drumming in 4/6 time, and apparently Moon couldn’t drum in 4/6 time. So they hired a studio drummer for the song. Not quite. > [@](#): > > **Supposedly, Keith didn’t like – or had problems with – playing “swing” or “jazz” eighth-notes and their related feels, like shuffles.** > > There were just some beats he had a lot of trouble with, like shuffles or playing in 6/8. On “I’m Free” (from Tommy), me and Pete had to play drums and Keith played the breaks because he couldn’t get the intro. He was hearing it differently from how we were, and he just couldn’t shake it off. So we put down the snare, the hi-hat, and the tambourine part and he came in and added all the breaks. When we did it live, the only way to bring him in was for Pete and I to go like this [makes an exaggerated high step], which must have looked completely nuts. From [Drum Magazine: Partners In Time: John Entwistle & Keith Moon](http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/partners-in-time-john-entwistle-keith-moon/P1/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/9 "2015-02-23T13:55:34Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > I have a friend, a lifelong jazz drummer, who calls Keith Moon a genius, but a lot of rock drummers seem to worship either John Bonham or Neal Peart, or both. I can’t march in that parade. They all do very different things, and they all are geniuses in their own right. It took me awhile to come around to Keith Moon, but he is a very interesting drummer with a unique sound and style that works perfectly with the Who. I’m not a big Who fan, but the post-Moon albums, while having very good technical drumming, just don’t sound right to me. To me, that’s one sign of a great drummer, that when their voice is lost in the band, you notice. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/10 "2015-02-23T14:25:58Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > **Leaffan** , you are a man who reveals all he digs. Can you see the real me, doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/11 "2015-02-23T14:55:34Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Moon is mesmerizing to watch. He’s my all-time favorite drummer-performer. > > I read something interesting awhile back, though… one of the songs on _Who Are You_ required drumming in 4/6 time, and apparently Moon couldn’t drum in 4/6 time. So they hired a studio drummer for the song. > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Not quite. > From [Drum Magazine: Partners In Time: John Entwistle & Keith Moon](http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/partners-in-time-john-entwistle-keith-moon/P1/) Maybe. I recall reading that on one of the Who By Numbers tracks, Pete Townshend had to substitute the sound of his own footsteps because moon couldn’t handle the odd time signature. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/12 "2015-02-23T15:06:27Z")
My favorite album by my favorite band. I have a tradition of listening to Quad in it’s entirety on May 19th every year, preferably cranked up to 11 while driving down a long stretch of blue highway. ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/13 "2015-02-23T17:00:27Z")
Favorite rock album. Love Entwistle on The Real Me (along w/the rest of the band). I may be mistaken, but I’d thought the story was Moon was having trouble keeping time as he got crazier and/or more addicted to substances, that was why he’s seen wearing headphones so he could hear a metronome in The Kids Are Alright movie around the Who Are You Era. The song Music Must Change on that album uses the sound of footsteps for a beat. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/14 "2015-02-23T18:01:00Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Not quite. > From [Drum Magazine: Partners In Time: John Entwistle & Keith Moon](http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/partners-in-time-john-entwistle-keith-moon/P1/) Huh. I actually find that somewhat surprising. “My Generation” has a pretty strong swing/shuffle feel to it, and he has no problems with triplets there (which is the basis for the 6/8 or 12/8 feel.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/15 "2015-02-23T19:43:20Z")
Great, great album. I think you could leave me with Tommy, Quadrophenia, Wish you were here and The Wall and you could burn the rest. I prefer Quadrophenia over Tommy but maybe I should defer to my smaller critics. My 7 and 9 year old have been subjected to my musical tastes since birth and I try desperately not to force anything down their neck but I’m struck by which tunes seem to provoke a funky gut reaction in them. (Prince, Duran Duran, Cameo!) Anyhow, they listened to Tommy for the first time a month or so ago and two things were apparent. a) They were dancing around like mad things in the back of the car b) It was the drumming that they mostly reacted to They don’t have a critical filter, they like what they like so I’ll take that as evidence of The Who’s primeval genius. They never behave that that when One Direction come on the radio. FWIW my little boy (7) loves “Christmas” and “go to the mirror” my daughter (9) takes the slightly more obvious route of “Acid Queen” and “Pinball Wizard” She thankfully hasn’t asked exactly what the Acid Queen is up to. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/16 "2015-02-23T19:56:56Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Maybe. I recall reading that on one of the Who By Numbers tracks, Pete Townshend had to substitute the sound of his own footsteps because moon couldn’t handle the odd time signature. [Music Must Change.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDkrMi8B15U) Off Who Are You, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/17 "2015-02-23T20:16:16Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Not quite. > From [Drum Magazine: Partners In Time: John Entwistle & Keith Moon](http://www.drummagazine.com/features/post/partners-in-time-john-entwistle-keith-moon/P1/) That’s very interesting. I (a keyboard player, not a drummer) also have the darnedest time feeling musically where the drums come in on “I’m Free.” I kind of know it because I’ve heard the song a zillion times, but there’s something about the lead in that eludes my internal groove-o-meter. Also, I love this album. Just listened to “The Real Me,” which is one of the greatest rock tracks ever. It just rumbles my loins (how’s that for a weird image!). ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/18 "2015-02-23T22:14:49Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I love this album, and kept the vinyl along with the enclosed booklet. Any day I happen to glance at a clock at 5:15, you know what tune pops into my head. “Born to Run”? ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/19 "2015-02-23T22:32:53Z")
What intrigues me about this record is that although I recognize almost none of the song titles, I recognize just about every song. Despite never having the record until adulthood. Makes me think that CT album rock radio was truly amazing in the 70s as far as playing deep cuts. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371/20 "2015-02-23T22:55:12Z")
BBC4 did a documentary called “Quadropenia-Can You See The Real Me?” a few years back. Worth watching if you’re a fan: [Part 1](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrvyti_quadrophenia-can-you-see-the-real-me-2012-1-2_music) [Part 2](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xrvzrf_quadrophenia-can-you-see-the-real-me-2012-2-2_music) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quadrophenia-possibly-the-best-album-ever/713371.md?page=2)